Photon Connection
From the collection of
Fighting Crime with Science
- Islington
- 2003
Photon Connection
Sir Kenneth Corfield presents a revolutionary use of light for comunication in the 54th annual Faraday Lecture at London's Dominion Theatre.
Sir Kenneth Corfield, chairman and chief executive of Standard Telephones and Cables, presents the 54th edition of the annual Faraday Lecture. Seen by over 100,000 people across the country, the final lecture took place in the Dominion Theatre on London's Tottenham Court Road. STC celebrated its own centenary the same year.
The crowds stream into the venue, under the marquee (or letter board) advertising some of the other coming attractions, such as the third Star Wars film, Return of the Jedi, along with the title of the upcoming lecture - The Photon Connection. The opening of the lecture makes use of the massive hydraulic lift designed by set designer John Napier for the upcoming 'Time - the Musical'.
The lecturer talks about the use of light to transfer messages; from the fall of Troy to announcing the wedding of Charles and Diana. A slide show takes us through developments in communication technology - radio to television, BBC to commercial stations, the introduction of colour, moon landings, and the arrival of computers into offices and everyday life. Sir Kenneth provides us with practical demonstrations using visible light and lasers, and explains the benefits of optical systems - less digging up of the roads for one thing!
This video is from the IET Archives, a member of the London's Screen Archives Network.
Tags
The IEE Faraday Lecture Series
Lecture series encouraging students to embrace the technologies of the future.
From 1924, the Institution of Electrical Engineers (now the Institution of Engineering and Technology) delivered an annual lecture in honour of Michael Faraday, pioneer of electromagnetism and electrochemistry, with the aim of encouraging young people to consider a career in electrical engineering.
With the advent of video, the lectures were shown in science lessons across the UK, and recorded since the 1970s in front of a largely student audience. Each lecture was delivered in partnership with an organisation working at the forefront of new and developing technologies. The videos are full of fun experiments, audience participation and increasingly futuristic computer graphics. The presenters talk with wide-eyed wonder about the potential of the internet, TV, and mobile telephones, inspiring young viewers to be part of this exciting new future.
17 videos in this collection
1
Fighting Crime with Science
2
Electric Currency
3
Sound FX: Making Music with Technology
4
Emission Impossible
5
Electricity in the Service of Man (Pt 1)
6
Electricity in the Service of Man (Pt 2)
7
Beyond the Telephone
8
Let There Be Light (pt 1)
9
Let There Be Light (pt 2)
10
Let's Build a Satellite
11
Your Generation
12
Smart Living @ Home with Technology
13
Digital World
14
Photon Connection
15
Entertaining Electron
16
Diagnostic Electron
17